The Distilling Team

Philippe Coquard and Tom Lenerz

Winemaker Philippe Coquard is mostly self-taught in distillation, but his experience in wine-schooling, working in France, making wine in Wisconsin for 30 years, and being a 13th generation winemaker – helped him a lot when learning to make spirits. He says, “Distillation is an extension of winemaking. You have to make good wine to have good spirits.” Philippe also visited older distillers in the famous brandy-making region of Cognac, France, to exchange ideas, ask questions, and get advice, but a lot of the early stages of making Coquard Brandy, our first spirit, were experimental.

“The finesse of barrel-aging goes back to our wine background”, he says, and “the aging experiments started with which toast of Wisconsin oak to use, which had never been done before.” All brandy barrels are toasted before they are used to age spirits, and the amount of toasting influences the ultimate flavor of the spirit. Philippe says he was looking for a toast that “would really bring forward the best possible Wisconsin-made brandy. We finally figured that out and I think we are on a great path for possibly one of the best brandies in America.”

Distiller Tom Lenerz joined the family business in 2014, even before we opened the new distillery. Tom is son-in-law to Winemaker Philippe and is a native to Sauk City. Tom’s distilling and brewing experience was inspired by a personal interest in spirits. “I’d been saying for quite a while that I’d like to make whiskey someday,” he says. “Originally, it was just the idea of doing it as a hobby, but when we moved to New York [for my wife’s graduate school program], I got a job at a distillery there in the tasting room. That is where things really took off and I developed my appreciation for spirits much more.” While at the distillery in New York, Tom also helped with bottling and in production, polishing stills and moving barrels.

When Tom and his wife, Céline (Philippe’s daughter), returned to Wisconsin, he started working at Lake Louie Brewing in Arena. He says, “That was very production-oriented. I started at the bottom washing kegs and learned how to do pretty much everything you need to do in a brewery.” The brewing skills Tom learned help him at the distillery because grain spirits like whiskey and gin start with distiller’s beer, which is brewed much like regular beer.

Before learning to distill at Wollersheim, Tom worked in the vineyard and helped through a season of grape harvest and wine fermentation at the winery. In addition to his business degree, he also has taken several professional courses in distillation.

For over two years, Tom and Philippe worked together on the design of the distillery building, planning every step of the process from handling grain directly from our farmers, to safely aging, blending and bottling our spirits.

Distillery

The Wisconsin riverside bluff on which we’ve built our distillery was first planted with grapevines in the 1840s, establishing the estate as a premier winery in the region. Historical records also reveal a tradition of brandy making, which we proudly carry forward by fermenting and distilling on-site all of our family-crafted spirits featuring Wisconsin-grown ingredients.

Distillery Store

The distillery store features all of our Wollersheim spirits, and a variety of glassware and gift items. We offer a fine selection of Wisconsin cheeses, unique food items, gift boxes and a variety of distillery apparel.